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Causes

Achievement Gap

One
cause for high school dropouts is the Achievement Gap. “The
achievement gap is the difference in academic performance between different
ethnic groups.” This is
a cause of high school dropouts because different ethnic groups especially
minorities’ dropout because they struggle with the required educational
standards. These academic requirements are forced by the No Child Left Behind
act which require schools and each ethnicity to meet those requirements. “The No
Child Left Behind Act requires schools, districts, and state educational
systems to meet annual targets for improvement in identified academic areas,
including mathematics—not only for their student populations as a whole, but
for each of several identified subgroups: African American, Hispanic, White,
economically disadvantaged, special education, and limited English proficiency
(LEP).” This
means each ethnic group has standards to meet academically, which causes people
to dropout due to the work being challenging and different groups having different
levels of work. This is one cause of high school dropout.

Poverty

Another cause or reason for people to dropout is because they live in poverty. Poverty
is the state of being poor. This is a major cause of students leaving high
school. Poverty includes living in low-income homes and families, unemployment,
teen pregnancy, drug usage, alcohol abuse, and gang violence. This leads to
high school dropout rates increasing because of the lack of parental
involvement in some cases and because of bad peer influence. Students
can get involved in drugs and gang life by follow their peers. This can lead to
them dropping out of high school and not thinking about some of the long-term
repercussions. “Many students don't consider the long-term repercussions of
dropping out such as increased unemployment, less earning potential, poverty,
and reliance on public assistance.” This
shows that students who dropout of school don’t think about how it would effect
their life later. Poverty is also a cause of high school dropouts because a lot
of people dropping out live in poverty and are mostly poor. “Those
who drop out of school are more likely to be poor, and the poor are more likely
to drop out of school.” This shows that poverty affect those who are poor because it leads to dropping out and future trouble such as unemployment.